1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a cooking apparatus and, more particularly, to a microwave oven having an audio player.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is an apparatus that cooks food by radiating microwaves into a cooking cavity. A microwave oven is partitioned into an electrical component area and a cooking cavity. In the electrical component area, a magnetron generates microwaves. As use of the microwave oven increases, the amount of time a user spends cooking with the microwave oven also increases. Therefore, if the user, who frequently uses the microwave oven, listens to desired music while cooking, the user would enjoy cooking more. An audio player and microwave oven combination to satisfy the desire of the user is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1999-1379.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional microwave oven having an audio player, as disclosed in Korean Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1999-1379. As shown in FIG. 1, speakers 20 are disposed on both sides of an upper surface of a body 10, and a depressed seat 12 is formed at a center portion of the upper surface of the body 10. A compact disc (CD) player 30 and a cassette player 40 are installed in the depressed seat 12. When a user cooks food using the microwave oven, the user puts food on a cooking tray in a cooking cavity, selects a suitable cooking time corresponding to the food, and starts cooking. When the user selects one of the CD player 30 and the cassette player 40 installed in the body 10 to play music while cooking the food, the sound is output through the speakers 20.
The conventional audio player and microwave oven combination having the above construction is problematic in that, because the CD player and the cassette player are installed in the upper portion of the microwave oven, it is very inconvenient for a short user to manipulate the CD player or the cassette player if the installation position of the microwave oven is relatively high. Because a range hood and microwave oven combination is installed higher than a cooktop, the problem becomes more serious.
Further, the conventional audio payer and microwave oven combination is problematic in that, because the CD player and the cassette player are fixedly installed in the microwave oven, the user may not use the CD player and the cassette player if the user leaves the location where the microwave oven is installed. That is, the range of use of the CD player that are and the cassette player fixedly installed in the microwave oven is very limited.